They say that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. As I think about this saying, I can think of a lot of weak links in a typical church. There is the pastor who misspeaks from time to time, among other things that he does wrong. There is the lady who used to volunteer to teach Sunday School, but is now too old to keep up with the kids. There are the kids that are a little bit wild and maybe too full of energy for a quiet church environment. There are the men who used to organize a church workday but now give a concerted effort to try to stay awake during the sermon. There is the musician who, bless her heart, sings off key. There is the volunteer who needs more help than he provides. There is the church leader who struggles privately with an addiction. There is the young family that is so busy with any and every other activity on any given Sunday. There is the old lady who wears too much perfume. There is the old man who can’t see or hear. There are the folks that want much but give little. … Are you one of these weak links? Don’t be alarmed. We all are! We all have our flaws. We all have our shortcomings. We all have our weaknesses. This begs the question, if the church is so full of weak links like us, how can we expect the church to survive?
The answer is found when we consider what kind of link Jesus is for the church. Jesus came to be an all-powerful link, God with us, Emmanuel. Jesus came to be an indestructible link, the Messiah and King of Israel. Jesus came to be a master link, the Savior of all who believe. And yet, what did Jesus do? He left His glory in heaven and put on humility with a crown of thorns. He put aside His powerful kingdom and became weak on the cross. He gave up His awesome perfection and became sin for us. In a sense, Jesus gave up His status of being a perfect and flawless link to become our weakest link. And it is Jesus, our weakest link, who holds the church so strongly together. The church will not break, nor will it be overpowered, so long as we are linked together by faith in Jesus. Let’s stop trying to make a great church by looking for who would be the best candidate for this ministry or that. Let’s stop trying to fix every problem in church by criticizing the other weak links around us. Instead let’s be the strongest church that we can be by putting more faith in our weakest link, Jesus.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11